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11.24.2009

I stumbled upon Electric Literature on a great book blog, Book Ninja. Basically, they pair new media with short stories in hopes of promoting the lost art of short fiction. Electric Literature is a glimpse into the future of writing.

Fiction transports us. It uniquely captures the experience of human consciousness like no other art form, revealing underlying truth and opening us to life’s possibilities. Like any creative act, writing fiction carries within it an implicit belief in the future.

Electric literature combines media and literature in a compelling and creative way. They maintain, “We're tired of hearing that literary fiction is doomed. Everywhere we look, people are reading—whether it be paperbooks, eBooks, blogs, tweets, or text messages. So, before we write the epitaph for the literary age, we thought, let’s try it this way first: select stories with a strong voice that capture our readers and lead them somewhere exciting, unexpected, and meaningful. Publish everywhere, every way: paperbacks, Kindles, iPhones, eBooks, and audiobooks. Make it inexpensive and accessible. Streamline it: just five great stories in each issue. Be entertaining without sacrificing depth. In short, create the thing we wish existed.”

The publishing revolution is already changing the way we consume literature. In an era of micro-blogging and short attention spans, it’s brilliant Electric Literature is transforming the short story using new platforms. To them, literature is what is important, not the medium.

The Oxford American Dictionary named its word of the year 2009 and I couldn’t be more let down; unfriend. Really? Am I let down because the word unfriend has been in my lexicon for the last six years and those is charge of nominating these words took so long to catch up to Generation Y?Perhaps it’s because the word is completely uninteresting. I understand the award isn’t actually for the word itself but rather the meaning, which speaks to our nation’s over-consumption of social media. However, in my not-so-humble opinion, I can’t help but think the people over at OAD were slacking.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not denying that 2009’s word of the year should reflect our recent obsession with social media; I just think the OAD could have given the award to a more interesting word. For instance, intexticated. Not only is this word much more fun to say, but it’s also funny; distracted because texting on a cell phone while driving. I would also go so far as to say this also describes any social setting where one should be socializing but instead is absorbed in a far more interesting conversation via text, or perhaps dirty texting. Which brings me to another word: sexting – sending sexually explicit texts and pictures by cell phone. Perhaps the people at OAD thought this was understandably inappropriate.

Either way, I’m disappointed. You can check out the other contenders here. What do you think?